Wednesday, 24 April 2013

I went for a ride today - along the busiest road in Bournemouth - Castle Lane. Our local Sustrans Officer, the irrepressible Jason Falconer, called for examples of useless cycle signage that we could remove. It led me to one of my bugbears... "Cyclists Dismount" signs. They are used with alarming frequency (usually where people can't be bothered to spend a few ££s on proper path engineering) but NEVER have a subsequent "Cyclists remount" sign to indicate how long we should be unmounted for! And we put up with this shit!

I knew if I took this route - I'd strike recyclable metal gold! And some simply terrible examples of lazy, cheap engineering...

Western approach to Castlepoint, Bournemouth's out-of-town shopping centre and the cause of much risible cycle facility. The cycle lane starts from the service road – there is no indication leading up to this point that one has to take the service road to use the cycle lane. You end up on the main road at this junction and have no incentive to change to the cycle lane at this point.

Castle Lane East travelling East from the Cooper Dean. Just past the Petrol Station. Apparently the cycle lane ends here! Funny that it starts again just across the side road. There should be a pedestrian and cycle zebra here. This is a typical example of “can’t be arsed because it will cost a few pounds”! All of the points at which this dual use path cross access roads to the station and burger king have no consideration for vulnerable road users.

Approaching Castlepoint from the East – again a service road turns into a cycle lane but there is no forewarning so you end up approaching it on the main road. The first opportunity to join the cycle path is just beyond the traffic light. Mind you – have you ever ridden this path past the shops? Atrocious.

Cyclists Dismount! Just before you reach this road along which you can now push your bike!

The Mallard Rd shopping park is no better – get off your bike and push as we can’t be bothered to cater for you!Even on Mallard Rd itself, no proper end to the cycle path with a lead-on to the road.

And across the road from that one, another! All 3 directions this picture doesn’t show are cycle lanes. The one it does show could so easily be a cycle path too!

My personal favourite... Heading West from the Mallard Rd roundabout, Get off and push along this service road!!!

And finally... lets have a game of “Spot the end of the cycle path”!! Can you tell where it is yet? It appears to end where the white lines end but there;s no sign to say so. No effort, once again, to introduce bikes back onto the carriageway safely and clearly. After taking this pic I had to negotiate right of way with the red car. Does the lack of sign denoting the end of the cycle lane mean I can ride all the way down to Winton Banks on the pavement without fear of being fined by the Police???